Executive Director of the Belleville Quinte West Community Health Centre Sheila Braidek(right).Photo: John Spitters / Quinte News)
Some in Quinte West are blaming the Belleville Quinte West Community Health Centre for the change in plans for the building of a new health services hub.
The preferred option had always been near Trenton Memorial Hospital, but because of soil contamination and associated costs, the Southeast Local Health Integration now prefers the CHC location in downtown Trenton.
That property will have no cleanup issues.
Executive Director of the Belleville Quinte West Community Health Centre, Sheila Braidek says all the organization wants is a new health services hub in a good location at a reasonable cost to taxpayers and the sooner the better.
Quoting from a consultant’s report done a couple of years ago, Braidek said the estimated cost to build the CHC facility alone (the rest of hub would come later in any location chosen) on the downtown site would be $6 million.
The estimated cost for the CHC building alone near the hospital would be $7.2 million.
The $7.2 million estimate did not include the newly discovered cost of soil remediation, roughly estimated to be close to $700,000.
The citizens group OurTMH, the Trenton Memorial Hospital Foundation Quinte Health Care and members of Quinte West council want the hub at Trenton Memorial Hospital, saying having all medical services in one area made the most sense for the community.
They aren’t convinced the contamination issue is a serious one and believe it can be dealt with quickly.
Other than Quinte Health Care, the other health service providers aren’t choosing one site over the other, but say demand for services is growing and a suitable facility should be built as soon as possible.
They are the Victorian Order of Nurses, Addictions and Mental Health Hastings Prince Edward, the Brighton Quinte West Family Health Team and Home and Community Care (formerly Community Care Access Centre).
A final decision on a location won’t be made until after a meeting between LHIN officials and the mayor of Quinte West and others next week.
